Kurdistan Region banned Iranian animal imports due to diseases, says Agriculture Ministry
28/07/2012 14:30
ERBIL, July 28 (AKnews) – The Ministry of Agriculture and Water
resources in the Kurdistan Region has banned animal imports from Iran
due to the spread of disease.
Director of animal resources Ramazan Karim said: "All Iranian animals in the region came illegally by smugglers."
The
region has banned animals from Iran since February because of spreading
foot-and-mouth disease, which is an infectious and sometimes fatal
viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic and
wild bovids.
Karim said the ban led to a rise in meat price in the region.
The
director added: "The region has also banned imports of animals from the
US, Germany and Spain due to diseases but allows animals to come from
Turkey, Brazil, Armenia and Goergia."
The cause of
foot-and-mouth disease was first shown to be viral in 1897 by Friedrich
Loeffler. He passed the blood of an infected animal through a
Chamberland filter and found that the fluid that was collected could
still cause the disease in healthy animals.
By Dawan Hadi
HH/DM/AKnews
